New faces in key police roles

Vanessa Jardine will be joining the force as a Temporary Assistant Chief Constable on Monday.

She will be on secondment from Greater Manchester Police (GMP), where she is currently employed as the Chief Superintendent with responsibility for Public Protection.

She succeeds Jo Farrell who was appointed as Deputy Chief Constable for Durham Constabulary.

Having started her career at GMP in 1994, Vanessa has had numerous high profile roles – these include her work as a serious crime detective and more recently Superintendent of the City of Manchester.

“Northumbria Police has a national reputation for the outstanding work that it carries out and I will continue to build on the work to deliver the best possible services to the residents in the force area,” she said.

In addition, Chief Inspector Dave Guthrie has taken on the position of head of Motor Patrols at Northumbria Police. He replaces John Heckels as the face of road safety in the North East and the officer leading road safety campaigns that the force is running or supporting.

He said: “Time and time again we say that motor vehicles have the ability to kill numerous people in a split second. We need to make sure that people are listening to our advice.”

The department is responsible for responding to the majority of incidents on the roads and its officers also take on the lengthy investigations that can follow.

It also includes the flagship Op Dragoon team, which is responsible for targeting high-risk offenders who use the roads to carry out criminal activity.